In the most recent incident on Tuesday, two black bin bags full of discarded Christmas decorations were found at La Croix cemetery.
‘On this occasion we have found documentation in the bag that may allow us to identify the persons responsible for depositing the rubbish in our cemetery,’ said Daphen Dunster, chairwoman of the St Peter’s Cemeteries Committee.
The committee, which is responsible for maintaining the parish’s burial sites, said it wanted to draw attention to a continuing and increasingly frequent problem of illegal waste dumping at parish sites, an issue they said had escalated over the past two or three years.
‘Black-bag waste presents serious concerns,’ said Mrs Dunster. ‘Items found have included sanitary waste, faeces, household items such as hair dryers and shoes, as well as oily rags and DIY and workshop debris.
‘This is not only unhygienic and potentially hazardous but also deeply disrespectful to those visiting burial sites to honour or tend the graves of their loved ones.’
She added that green waste had also been found at the three cemeteries in the parish.
‘The parish already manages its own green-waste requirements, which are carefully calculated and funded by ratepayers,’ she said.
‘The additional, unscheduled dumping by members of the public results in extra labour, transport, and disposal costs. In one notable incident a couple of years ago, a full one-tonne bag of green waste was dumped at La Croix cemetery, and the ratepayers were forced to cover the cost of its removal.’
Mrs Dunster said that in the past the parish had maintained a large, purpose-built, screened storage area at La Croix to keep waste out of sight before collection.
‘Unfortunately, this facility in the cemetery was destroyed by vandalism, contributing to the current challenges,’ she said.
‘I urge all members of the community to dispose of waste responsibly and to respect shared spaces.
'Continued misuse places unnecessary financial burdens on ratepayers and diminishes the dignity of important communal areas.’
You need to be logged in to comment. If you had an account on our previous site, you can migrate your old account and comment profile to this site by visiting this page and entering the email address for your old account. We'll then send you an email with a link to follow to complete the process.